Zakk Wylde and BLS jump aboard the ‘Unplugged Train’. When this was first announced I hoped it would be Zakk and Nick on acoustics doing some of the Pride & Glory stuff along with a few tunes from BOOK OF SHADOWS and maybe a few from HANGOVER MUSIC VOL.VI. Unfortunately I was wrong. This is reworked BLS songs for the most part.

This is not a proper ‘Unplugged’, unless referring to the distortion pedals. For this show they basically ‘Unplugged’ the distortion pedals and played with a more clean sound. They did the right approach and kicked it down a notch but in true BLS fashion, not fully ‘Unplugged’.

UNBLACKENED does begin with “Losin’ Yoiur Mind” from the Pride & Glory project which is a great start. Typical BLS Classics such as “Stillborn”, “In This River” and “Spoke In The Wheel” are included and lend themselves well to the untraditional unplugged that we have here. There is a keyboardist on stage with them that lends a nice but unnecessary aspect to the performances. A digital baby grand is there as well and it sounds really nice but a real one would be much nicer (and appropriate).

Visually stunning with a really nice audio mix that sounds great turned up loud. UNBLACKENED is not your typical Unplugged show. This is a toned down BLS concert with less distortion and speed. Zakk sounds much better in this type of setting compared to a full blown Black Label gig.